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Chapter 466: The Tenth Moon!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Su Ming did not believe in the Candle Dragon's words at all. However… even if he had believed them, it would still be difficult for him to watch his small snake be devoured just so that he could obtain an incredible power and great serendipity.
'When a man lives in the world, he should live without any regrets… I dream about becoming stronger, I dream about strength, I dream about ripping fate with my own hands, but… if I give up on the snake today just so that I can obtain these things, then tomorrow, I will give up on other things for stronger desires. Once I give those things up, then for other desires that come after that, I might give up Dark Mountain, and next will be my ideals, and then it'll be my memories…
'When I have given up on everything, then at that time… will I still be me..? I yearn for power, I want to become strong, but the base for all this must be that I do not give up on anything!
'I will do what my heart dictates. Even if I turn into a murderous fiend, even if my hands are bloodied, I will not be ashamed of my decisions!' Su Ming muttered in his heart.
He had been searching for Dark Mountain constantly, but if he gave up on going back to Dark Mountain while in the process of searching for the path back, then he would have lost his soul.
Part of his memories had awakened. The girl's faint calls occasionally rang in his head. If he was faced with the decision to give up on the voice calling for him to obtain something, then what was he to do..?
There were some things in the world that once they happened once, they would happen a second time, and a third…
Su Ming did not falter and hurled his fist straight towards the woman's head. The instant it closed in on her, a layer of illusionary ripples suddenly appeared around that beautiful head. Soon after, a light chuckle came from within that giant mass of flesh and echoed in all directions.
At the same time, the instant Su Ming's fist rammed into the head, those ripples around the head became invisible and disappeared without a trace, vanishing right before his eyes.
That head was clearly not its real body, just an illusion. The goal behind it was to simply attract Su Ming's attention, and then it could… buy more time to devour his snake.
However, the Candle Dragon's remaining will had clearly not expected that Su Ming would be so decisive in his actions. He had attacked without much hesitation, causing the time it had bought to be absolutely not enough to devour the snake.
Su Ming's expression remained as usual. Not a single hint of shock appeared on his face when he saw the head suddenly disappearing. In all honesty, he had long since seen that there was something off about it.
After all, the head was hidden in that mass of flesh, and there was no need for it to reveal itself when Su Ming arrived. Clearly, its goal was just to attract all of his attention!
That was why the instant Su Ming hurled his fist forward, he spread his divine sense outward swiftly, and it was immediately after that the Lightning Berserker Bone on his spine sent out a strong electrical arc that spread outwards once it swam through his entire body.
An endless amount of lightning seemingly exploded out of Su Ming's body the instant that electrical arc spread out. With Su Ming's divine sense, those bolts of lightning surged into the giant mass of flesh around it, sweeping past the walls of flesh like a huge wave in search for the Candle Dragon's remaining will.
The Wind Berserker Bone also burst forth with a powerful force of wind at that moment, causing Su Ming to stir up a cyclone out of thin air, which became stronger with each passing moment. When a glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes and the instant the battle between the dragon snake and the Nine-Headed Dragon reached its most intense state, that cyclone swept through the area with a mad craze, with Su Ming as its center.
It was as if there were several pairs of huge hands flipping over the mass of flesh at that moment. Thunder rumbled, wind moaned, and the mass of flesh around Su Ming immediately started moving as if it was a wisp of smoke blown apart by wind before being ripped apart by lightning.
It was also during that instant that the giant mass of flesh started rapidly turning black for some unknown reason. It looked as if it was being rapidly dyed black by ink.
Su Ming did not have time to bother himself with it, because as he spread his divine sense, his bolts of lightning, and his cyclone through that mass of flesh, he found the presence of his small snake at a corner within the mass of flesh!
Without any hint of hesitation, he immediately charged towards the spot where he sensed the small snake's presence. In the blink of an eye, he closed in on that spot, but right at the moment he did so, a piercing howl surged right into his mind.
That piercing howl came right from where Su Ming had sensed the small snake's presence, and it came from the woman's head floating beside it.
That head had her eyes closed and still did not open them even at that moment. However, that piercing howl from her mouth made Su Ming's mind shake, and an illusion even appeared before his eyes.
He was incredibly insignificant in front of that illusion. Before him was an incredibly huge Candle Dragon that looked like a city, and its size could not be described by words.
That Candle Dragon opened its mouth and let out a roar filled with a murderous aura and thirst for blood that surged into the skies. That scene felt like the sky was falling with the intention of destroying all lives.
As Su Ming's mind trembled, he bit his tongue. Sharp pain shot through his body, and a faint, illusionary crack appeared on the gigantic Candle Dragon's body before him.
The woman's beautiful head was hidden within that illusion. Her eyes were closed, but inside her opened mouth were sharp, poisonous teeth. She was also hissing with her forked tongue out of her mouth as she charged towards Su Ming.
No matter what, this Candle Dragon only had some remnant of its will left, and a lot of it had been lost over the years. Most of it was used on the dragon snake to fight against the Nine-Headed Dragon at that moment, which was why when Su Ming regained his senses, he found some hints to break the illusion, along with the head hidden under the illusion.
Su Ming narrowed his eyes and lifted his right hand swiftly. A large amount of lightning erupted from his Lightning Berserker Bone, as if Su Ming had swept up a layer of lightning. At the same moment, the bolts of lightning that had spread through the area just now swiftly gathered on him, causing his right hand to look as if it was covered by lightning.
"Lightning Berserker, first move!" Su Ming roared. This was the divine ability that belonged solely to Lightning Berserkers, and it was what he had sensed when he had forcefully absorbed the Lightning Crystal of Inheritance just now!
As Su Ming's words reverberated in the air, the bolts of lightning covering his right hand increased explosively all of a sudden to turn into a long blade made of lightning. The blade was about several dozens of feet long, and there were distortions on its edges. As thunder rumbled in the air, he swung the blade down on the incoming woman's head.
It was right at that instant that Su Ming's expression suddenly changed. The same change of expression also appeared on the woman's face!
Su Ming saw a wisp of black fog appearing out of nowhere right where he sensed the presence of his snake, and that black fog turned into a huge hand that seized the floating snake that was slumbering behind the head, which was, to the head, her most important spot.
All of this happened too quickly, and so Su Ming's Lightning Berserker Movement and the woman's head still crashed into each other.
As booming sounds reverberated in the air, a long string of laughter immediately spread through the area. An old man in black robes appeared along with the laughter, and he had the slumbering snake seized tightly in his hand while his eyes sparkled.
"If any of you dare move, I will crush this snake to death!" As the old man spoke, he increased the strength in his right hand's grip, and the small snake's body started twisting and shuddering.
The moment the old man in black robes squeezed the snake, the mass of flesh that had changed its color around them suddenly froze. A piercing howl immediately shot out from the woman's mouth.
Killing intent shone in Su Ming's eyes as he glared at the old man. This person appeared too suddenly, and he had abruptly come out when he was fighting against the Candle Dragon. For some unknown reason, Su Ming could also sense a strange feeling from him, one that screamed that he absolutely detested this old man and wanted to kill him.
"This body is just a hint of my divine sense. Even if I die here, it won't have too much effect on my body.
"Destiny, you're very fast, but I suggest that you don't be rash. Candle Dragon, you don't have much will left, and I am confident that I can kill this snake before you attack! Do you believe me?"
When he heard the word Destiny falling out of the old man's mouth, Su Ming's pupils shrank.
After that piercing roar, the woman's head said in a sinister voice, "Name your request!"
"Candle Dragon, I don't want to become your enemy. I just want you to cast the Undying and Imperishable World and seal him inside! After that, I'll immediately return this very important snake to you!"
The old man in black robes smiled darkly and increased the force of his right hand, causing the small snake to twist even more due to pain. A large amount of white mist spread out from its body and floated around the area.
A glint appeared in the woman's eyes. With her remaining will, if she cast the Undying and Imperishable World, then she would fall into deep slumber, and only some of her will would awaken after many years.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, she would not want to cast that Art. She would also be unable to absorb that snake if she fell into deep sleep. She could only continue with the process when she woke up.
"Since you refuse to yield, and since you both insist on meddling… Then I will have the Undying and Imperishable World decide your fate. With the remnants of my will, I will curse you…"
The beautiful head looked towards Su Ming, and for the first time, she opened her eyelids, revealing a pair of gray eyes, along with nine pupils that formed some sort of runic symbols within each of her eyes!
Nine-pupil eyes!
"I curse the both of you that your souls are separated from your bodies…
"I curse the both of you that your souls enter my World…
"I curse the both of you that you will sink into the state of not being able to die and not being able to perish, I curse the both of you that you will never be able to be reincarnated…
"I curse the both of you that you will lose yourselves during the endless passage of time and turn into my new Warrior Souls…
"If you fall and lose yourselves, then I will devour the snake and resurrect myself successfully. If you wake up, then I will willingly let myself be devoured by my kind, and I'll bless its new life!
"Undying and Imperishable Realm, One Hundred Million Vengeful Spirits… Open!"
The instant that piercing voice spoke, the Candle Dragon's entire body shuddered abruptly, causing the fog that covered several tens of thousands of lis to become much thicker. At the same time, its gigantic body started fossilizing rapidly…
In the blink of an eye, right before the crimson dragon and the old Spirit of Nine Yin's stunned expressions, the gigantic body turned into a humongous stone statue!
Immediately after, the shadow of a crescent moon appeared in the sky. That shadow slowly started shining with an enchanting light as it hung high up in the dark sky. With the other nine moons around it, the moon became the tenth crescent moon in the sky!
At that moment, all shamans and berserkers within Shaman City, all Spirits of Nine Yin, and all the living within and beyond those one million lis saw that crescent moon!
"The Candle Dragon has turned into stone… The tenth moon… This is the sign that the Sacred Nine Yin has activated the Undying and Imperishable World! As long as this moon doesn't disappear, then that World will forever remain!" the old Spirit of Nine Yin exclaimed.
Chapter 467: Undying and Imperishable World
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Almost the instant the tenth moon appeared in the World of Nine Yin's sky, the old man who was sitting and meditating with his body hidden under the fog beside the rapidly fossilizing Candle Dragon's carcass suddenly trembled. He opened his eyes swiftly and coughed out a mouthful of blood.
When that blood first appeared, it was still red, but it soon turned black. When it fell on the ground before him, sizzling sounded in the air. The old man's face was pale to the point of being bloodless. There was also a spot about the size of a fingernail on his forehead which had turned black.
That black smudge was still stretching outwards slowly, and a rotten stench was spreading out of that black patch. It smelled like the stench of decay.
"What a powerful Curse…" the old man mumbled to himself in a hoarse voice. By the time he finished saying those words, the black patch had spread to his entire forehead.
The rotten stench became stronger, and the old man's expression changed. He lifted his right hand, formed a seal, then tapped the center of his brows, but the instant his finger touched it, his body trembled once again and he coughed out three mouthfuls of blood in succession.
"Death turns me into an Immortal, the Immortals fuse time into our Dao, and time always changes!" The old man said those words with much difficulty, and as he voiced them, he quickly began forming seals with his hands, then rapidly tapped various spots on his body. The black patch on his face had already spread to a wide area and covered his entire face. It was not spreading to his throat though.
As the man said those words and formed those seals, his body started rapidly withering away. Almost in the blink of an eye, his entire person turned into a dried up corpse.
That corpse looked rigid as he sat there cross-legged. Due to the disappearance of the life force, the black patch on the man's face did not continue spreading. After a moment, cracking sounds came from within the old man's dried up corpse. Immediately after, a crack appeared at the center of his brows. That crack was abruptly torn wider, and a pair of hands stretched out from within. With a vicious rip, a crack rang through the air.
That tear widened swiftly on the old man's body,and a pair of complete arms were revealed. The owner of them was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties!
That man was entirely naked, and he looked as if he was about to crawl out from the dried up corpse. After widening the crack, he swiftly walked out.
The middle-aged man looked incredibly similar to the old man in black robes, as if the middle-aged was him many years ago.
However, in terms of their presence, the middle-aged man was clearly much weaker than the old man in black robes. Once he walked out, he panted harshly, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his lips.
"Destiny is now perfectly sealed within the Undying and Imperishable Realm. I've finished my task. I only need to wait for my master's clone to come and can use this to claim a huge credit…
"This curse might be strong, but it can't stop me, because I've already prepared for this a long time… hmm?"
The middle-aged man was feeling incredibly smug. But just as he was mumbling to himself, his expression suddenly changed drastically, because he could clearly feel another black patch appearing at the center of his brows!
Fear appeared on the middle-aged man's face. He instinctively lifted his right hand and pressed down on the black patch at the center of his brows. He touched a viscous substance, and when he lifted his hand up, a sticky black thread was dragged out, and a rotten stench wafted into his nose.
"This divine ability given to me by my master can even help me avoid heavenly judgment. How could the Candle Dragon's curse…"
The middle-aged man appeared frightened. He quickly sat down and cast the same divine ability once again, and his body rapidly turned into a dried up corpse. Very soon, a tear appeared at the center of its brows. In an instant, it started spreading to the center of his body. A low growl appeared from that crack, and a man at the prime of his life crawled out.
The ripples coming from the youthful man's body had become much weaker. His appearance looked much younger compared to the old man in black robes, but… the instant he walked out, the black patch reappeared on his forehead as if it had etched right into his bones!
At that moment, the place was filled with a strange sight. If anyone else saw this, they would definitely be scared. Right beside the man were two dried up corpses with two incredibly big cracks in their bodies. One of them belonged to an old man, who still remained sitting cross-legged. However, if anyone took a closer look, they would find that his body was empty, and it was literally just a human shaped shell.
As for the middle-aged man who was sitting cross-legged, he was also a dried up corpse. His body was also empty, like he was only a layer of skin.
The youthful man by his side looked pale, and in his eyes were disbelief and terror that surged to the skies.
"Damn it, how can this be?! I had already separated myself from that thread of divine sense just now, I shouldn't be so deeply affected, but…" The youthful man shuddered. The black patch at the center of his brows spread wider, and it now looked to be the size of a baby's palm.
"I have to find a way to neutralize the curse as soon as possible! Curses… Damn it, I don't have much understanding towards this ancient and strange Art, how am I supposed to neutralize it?!"
The youthful man's face turned pale. He took a leap forward and charged into the distance. As he moved forward, he coughed out several mouthfuls of blood, and the black patch on his face grew larger.
At that moment, all the rotten blood and flesh within the fossilized Candle Dragon's body along with its skeleton had hardened up and turned into gray stone.
It did not matter whether it was the Candle Dragon's eye or the ferocious beasts. All of them had turned into stone, especially the creatures at its head. It was quiet there. There were two huge stone statues there. One of them belonged to the dragon snake, and the other was Su Ming's Nine-Headed Dragon born from his Han Mountain Bell.
They remained in their last pose before they were fossilized. There were murderous looks on their faces as they were engaged in a battle to the death. Even if they had been fossilized, if anyone looked at them, they could still feel a murderous aura coming right at their faces.
The giant mass of flesh that had been spreading outwards previously had also turned into a stone statue. Su Ming stood there, right by its side. His body remained still, and he had his eyes closed. He had also been petrified.
Everything about him had been turned into stone, including his clothes, his hair, and everything else. He looked no different compared to a stone, and even that hint of resolution on his face had been petrified in its place. He looked almost alive.
The small snake and the body formed from the old man's divine sense had also turned into a stone statue. They were all retained inside the fossilized Candle Dragon. The existences of these stone statues caused the place to be filled with a dead silence and a strange air…
The only thing that had not been petrified was the woman's head floating in midair. Her presence had completely disappeared and her eyes were opened. There was not a single spark of life remaining within them, but if anyone took a closer look, they would find that there was a weak vortex turning slowly in her right eye.
It was the Candle Dragon's Undying and Imperishable Realm! That vortex was the pride of its life! It was the source of why it could still remain proud and unyielding even though it was extremely weakened, when the old man in black robes had threatened it!
Candle Dragons could die, but even if they died, they still could not be threatened by any ordinary folk. Even if they died, they would still choose to die being devoured by their own kind!
All those who tried to control a Candle Dragon's thoughts would have to be struck by its powerful Curse, a Curse that could still terrify others even though it had died!
It devoured its own kind to survive, because it believed that this was the only way for the Candle Dragons to live eternally. However, if fate dictated that it could not devour its own kind, then it would willingly use everything that constituted itself and bless its kind's… new life!
All of this… was because they were of the same race!
All of this… was because of the unique legacy that belonged to the Candle Dragons!
If anyone magnified that vortex in the right eye, they would be able to see numerous illusionary shadows inside, and one of them…
...was Su Ming!
His body drifted without direction, and he looked like a wandering soul. His eyes were gray, and there was not a hint of intelligence within them. They were eternally vacant.
He did not have any will, as if his spirit was sleeping and could not wake up. He could not even be considered to have any natural instincts, and he was just drifting in that endless world.
There was a large amount of wandering souls who were floating and drifting about like him. There were about thousands of them, and almost every single one of them had gray eyes. They did not have any intelligence, no natural instincts. They could only… be forced to obey the piercing sound when it appeared…
They could only follow the orders of that soul before them that was obviously stronger than the other vengeful souls. There was a small amount of black mist spreading out of that soul. From the distance, it looked as if there was a murderous aura that was crashing right into the wandering souls' faces. That soul's eyes might also be gray, but within those gray pupils was a shred of intelligence.
With a piercing howl, the swarm of vengeful souls behind him quickly got closer to him and were sucked dry once he seized them. Once hundreds of vengeful souls were sucked dry, another piercing howl came from the distance. Immediately after, thousands of vengeful souls emerged from the spot where that other piercing sound had come. Leading those souls was a soul with an evil face, and he was shrouded entirely by black fog.
A war between vengeful souls started just like that.
When Su Ming opened his eyes, he still had not regained his will. However, a pain as if his entire body had been torn apart filled him, and he only managed to not scream by gritting his teeth tightly. That sort of pain was akin to his body turning into a leaf while he was being ripped apart, bit by bit. When he was eventually ripped to pieces, he was squeezed tightly, as if the force was trying to crush his bones into powder.
If he had screamed under that pain, perhaps he would not have snapped awake. It was precisely because he had endured that intense pain, that felt as if there were numerous voices by his ears roaring and calling out to him incessantly, that it felt as if he had stirred up all his strength!
It was from that strength that he had the false impression that he had opened his eyes once again, even though his eyes were open to begin with!
The instant he truly opened his eyes, he saw a gray, ashen sky, a white ground, and a broken world that only became like this after having lived through an unknown amount of years...
Chapter 468: Waking Up
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The gray sky was like a gray piece of cloth. It was filled with wrinkles and was spread right to the end of sight. There was no sun, no moon, and no stars. There was only the gray that caused depression to rise within a person's heart.
Its color exuded the air of death, causing the people to feel as if they were lost in that gray shade, and they would even begin to feel confusion boiling in their hearts.
The white ground rose and fell as it stretched into the distance. There was not a single plant there, not any other color. There was only white earth that spread endlessly outwards, leaving the entire place with no boundaries.
If anyone stared at the ground and the gray sky that acted as its contrast for a prolonged period of time, they would become even more lost.
When Su Ming opened his eyes, this was what he saw. After a long time, he lowered his head and saw his own body. He could clearly see that his body had turned into an illusion. He was just a wisp formed by the white fog spreading from the ground. That fog was incredibly weak in the beginning, but soon, it gradually gathered together to turn into a person, which was him.
A large amount of fog seeped out from the white ground around him. As that fog gathered together, more people appeared.
These people looked as if they were newly born. Their eyes were gray, and those gray eyes gave off a feeling of despair and fatigue that stemmed right from the soul. It was as if they had died numerous times already but still had to be newly born only to die again and again. This process would repeat endlessly, turning into a cycle.
Perhaps death was not terrifying at times. What was horrifying was endlessness, an eternity of not being able to die and not being able to perish until the soul itself became numb, until all will was lost, all that made a person, turning him into… an undying soul, Imperishable living corpse…
Not too long ago, at the spot where Su Ming woke up was a war waged between thousands of undying souls. This war might have happened several breaths ago, or it might have happened several days ago, or even several months ago. Su Ming had no idea how long it had been since then.
He only knew that this was what he saw when he woke up.
Su Ming might have woken up, but his heart was still at a loss. His eyes were still gray, and he still did not possess much intelligence. He did not know who he was, neither did he know how he got there. In fact, he did not even think about those things; his mind was simply blank.
He stared at the gray sky blankly, and just continued looking… until his body was gradually filled up by that fog and he turned into a complete person, and until all the other undying souls around him were formed.
All the undying souls were the same as him. They stood there, staring blankly at the sky with their minds vacant.
This continued for an unknown amount of time until one day, the sound of a horn came from the distance and reverberated through this boundless world. That voice was very faint, and nobody had an idea how many regions the sound of that horn had traveled through.
The instant the sound of that horn reached the thousands of undying souls, they immediately shuddered and lowered their lifted heads to look before them, at what lay in the endless distance. They looked at the same direction and slowly lifted their feet before slowly floating forward.
Su Ming was among these undying souls. He also heard that horn, and when that sound landed in his mind, it turned into a voice summoning him, a call that caused ripples in his soul.
He also stopped looking at the sky and looked instead in the direction the sound of the horn had come from. He simply floated forward slowly with the other undying souls by his side.
Su Ming had no idea just how long he floated. He had no concept of time in his mind. There was only the sound of the horn calling to him. The undying souls just drifted forward without an end to their numbers on that white ground.
Gradually, some of the undying souls let out piercing howls from their mouths while drifting forward. As the howls grew in number, on that day, one of the undying souls turned around swiftly and pounced on one of his companions that still had that vacant look in his eyes.
He ripped him apart, devoured him, and fused with him. After a moment, once the victim undying soul disappeared, its attackers body gained a more corporeal form. A hint of intelligence appeared in its gray eyes.
Almost the instant he devoured his companion, quite a number of other undying souls around him did the same thing. There was an undying soul who did that exact same thing right beside Su Ming.
That soul looked like it belonged to an old man. As he roared, he lunged at Su Ming like a wild beast. Once he got closer, he pounced on Su Ming, then opened his mouth and sank his teeth into his body.
Su Ming did not resist. There was still that dazed look in his eyes as he let the undying soul rip apart and devour him. The pain in his soul made Su Ming shudder. That sort of feeling where his body was about to be ripped apart made him suddenly remember that he had gone through the exact same type of pain when he woke up moments ago.
"So, I already died once..?" Su Ming mumbled. Half his body had already been devoured by that old man. By the looks of it, it would not take long before his entire body was devoured.
At that time, everything about Su Ming would disappear without a trace, but he would not die. Instead, after some time, the fog would gather up and turn into him once again in this Undying and Imperishable World so that he would have to go through the same form of death again. He had to continuously experience it, and the cycle would repeat… endlessly...
'I went through this feeling before… I don't want to go through it again!' Su Ming's will gradually faded away, but a brutality suddenly burned in his eyes, and he turned around swiftly to start devouring that old man.
The two undying souls began devouring each other. This meant the world to them, but to the thousands of undying souls around them, it was nothing, and it did not incite even the slightest bit of attention from them.
Time passed by slowly. Once the undying souls that clearly had a hint of intelligence on their faces ate their companions, they seemed to have become full, and their bodies clearly gained more substance. They lifted their heads to the sky and let out piercing howls.
The howls reverberated incessantly through the empty land, as if the souls were using their voices to announce that they had just been born again! The number of roars increased, and by the end, there were twenty-seven souls from among the thousands that roared nonstop to announce their new lives.
As they roared, the undying souls around them started trembling and fear appeared on their faces, as if these twenty-seven souls had surpassed them in terms of rank. It made them feel oppressed and afraid, no matter how numb they were to their surroundings.
As for Su Ming and the old man, they continued devouring each other. The old man started roaring madly and continued fighting against Su Ming to win in this brutal match to devour each other. Gradually, as Su Ming ate him, the old man grew weaker slowly, and eventually, his entire soul turned into Su Ming's nutrients for him to become stronger.
Once Su Ming devoured his first undying soul, he started shivering slightly. He could feel a wave of power swelling within him. This power rammed against his body until it crashed into his mind, causing a sign of struggle to appear in his eyes. A pain as if he was being ripped apart filled his mind, and it did not go away.
The feeling as if he was being torn apart was too great, and Su Ming began to feel as if his mind was about to crumble. As his mind collapsed, some memories returned to his empty head.
"What is… my name..?" Su Ming lifted his head swiftly and let out a roar towards the sky. That roar was the twenty-eighth roar of a newly born life!
His roar reflected off the other roars from the twenty-seven souls. Their roars gradually fused together and shook the sky and earth in that small area, causing the other undying souls to kneel down on the ground, trembling. The only souls that remained standing were those twenty-eight souls, and among them was Su Ming!
At first glance, all of them looked incredibly similar to each other, but as they continued eating the other souls, they would slowly begin to change and differences would appear. Gradually, they would regain all their memories…
At that moment, the sound of the horn resounded once again from the world in the distance. As that mournful hoot reverberated in the air, Su Ming gradually stopped roaring. The other twenty-seven souls also calmed down slowly, and they started floating forward at a much faster speed compared to that of normal souls.
Su Ming's eyes were still gray, and when he calmed down, he also flew forward with the other twenty- seven souls, bringing along the thousands of Souls behind him, as if they were floating forward for some sort of mission.
Time slowly trickled by. Su Ming had no idea how long had passed. Besides thinking about what his own name was, he did not have any other thoughts. Only the sound of the horn made him move towards its direction slowly, calling out to guide him.
During that process, he devoured several other undying souls in succession. Similarly, some of the other undying souls also seemed to have regained some semblance of intelligence as they moved forward and started devouring each other.
Each time Su Ming ate another soul, his body would gain more substance. When he devoured about eight undying souls, besides his legs, his entire body was no longer in a semi-transparent state, and he now looked as if he possessed flesh and blood.
His long, black hair floated behind his head. His eyes might still be gray, but there was intelligence within them, along with a hint of indifference.
There were already nearly fifty undying souls like him in this swarm of souls that numbered to several thousands, and they were still moving towards the direction of the sound of the horn…
Until one day, in this world where day and night could not be differentiated, Su Ming saw a swarm of other undying souls before him. When these two swarms of undying souls saw each other, the figures who were clearly much stronger than the normal souls let out shrill and biting howls!
Another war started!
Su Ming saw the swarm of undying souls charging towards him. The pain in his head as if he was being ripped apart grew stronger. He suddenly remembered. He had gone through something like this before...
He remembered now. He had died in the previous war and someone had devoured him whole, and then… he woke up again.
Killing intent appeared in Su Ming's eyes. He did not want to die. He had a feeling in his heart that with each time he died, he would lose a little bit of something, and even though he did not know the details of what it was, his natural instincts were telling him that he could not die!
Roaring reverberated in the air in this place. The two swarms of undying souls were closing in on each other madly. Five thousand feet, three thousand feet, two thousand feet… and then, five hundred feet, two hundred feet...
Chapter 469: Press Down, Seize!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Right at the instant the two armies were only one hundred feet away from each other and were ready to start devouring each other madly, the instant they were about to engage each other in a battle to the death, right at the moment madness appeared in Su Ming's eyes and he forgot about everything except to kill…
Suddenly, a long black arc charged through the gray sky. That long arc was about several thousands of feet long, and at the top of it was a person!
He was dressed in a white robe. His expression was apathetic and his white hair floated in the air. His eyes were filled with gray, causing fear in all those who looked at him. The ripples that were spreading out before him caused the thousands of undying souls to immediately begin trembling the instant he appeared. These two swarms were only one hundred feet away from each other, but no one dared to move from their spot.
The white-haired old man walked over from the sky, and the instant he walked right above the thousands of undying souls, he lifted his right hand, and without even looking down, he pressed down on the ground through the air and seized it!
As the old man pressed down, Su Ming had a distinct feeling as if the old man in white had fused together with the sky. The feeling as if the sky was pressing down with a rumble rose in him. That feeling immediately caused his body to begin crumbling, and all the other undying souls around him also started breaking down!
It was especially prominent among the undying souls who did not have any form of intelligence and were just following the crowd blankly. All of these souls disintegrated right at that instant and turned into the fog that gave birth to them as it seeped out of the ground.
Even the undying souls who had devoured a large number of their companions, just like Su Ming, and had become much stronger were also trembling. They could not even last for a breath before their bodies exploded.
Su Ming was the same!
He watched his own body breaking down and shattering. Once he turned into fog, the white-robed old man in the sky seized at the air with his right hand.
All the undying souls on the ground disintegrated with a bang and turned into a large amount of white fog that charged straight towards the sky. They were all sucked onto the old man's palm and turned into a ball of fog that was about the size of a fist. He wrapped his fingers around the ball, and it disappeared into his body.
The entire process lasted less than three breaths. The old man did not linger for a single moment and left the place, disappearing without a trace.
The place was empty. All the undying souls had dissipated, including Su Ming…
Time continued passing by once more. Several months later, white wisps of fog started gushing out of the ground. These wisps of fog gathered together and gradually turned into the indistinct shapes of people.
These people might look indistinct, but if there was anyone looking, they would be able to see that these were the undying souls that had died several months ago at this place!
The term undying soul did not mean that they would not die but that after they died, they would be revived, and this cycle would continue endlessly…
There was an indistinct figure that appeared right on the spot where Su Ming had disintegrated that day, and that figure seemed slightly different from the other undying souls…
He was moving his hand, repeatedly pressing down and seizing at the air, repeating this series of strange actions numerous times. As the fog slowly gathered up to form the bodies and as their appearances were revealed, the face of the figure that was performing those actions could be seen, and it was Su Ming!
However, gray had filled the entirety of this Su Ming's eyes, and his intelligence was showing no signs of waking. He looked at his right hand blankly as he repeated the action of pressing down and seizing at the air.
He did not know his name, did not know who he was, did not know why he was here. In fact, these questions did not exist in his mind. He did not even think about them. In his eyes, nothing in the world was important. The only thing that mattered was the spot he was looking at the moment - his right hand repeatedly performing the movement of pressing down and seizing the air.
He did not know why he kept doing this series of actions. It was as if all of this was due to a natural instinct. As he continued pressing down and seizing at the air, the fog around him gradually gathered together to form the other undying souls. They gradually stopped being indistinct, and slowly… lifted their heads to look at the vast sky.
Only Su Ming had his head lowered and still looked at his right hand. He simply looked at it blankly and repeated the act of pressing down and seizing at the air absentmindedly, even though he had already repeated the act countless times…
Several days later, the sound of the horn rang in the sky, and as that sound came, all the undying souls shuddered and averted their gazes from the sky to look towards the direction where the sound was coming from before they started moving their bodies and walking forward.
Su Ming did not lift his head. Even if he had heard the sound of the horn and even if he was moving along with the other undying souls, he still had his head lowered to look at his right hand as he continued the endless cycle of pressing down and seizing at the air…
It was as if everything else in the world could not stir up his interest when put in comparison with him repeating this action. Press down, seize. As Su Ming moved forward, he continued repeating this set of movements. His existence stood out like a sore thumb among the other undying souls around him.
Slowly, as the thousands of undying souls moved forward, some of the undying souls regained their minds. They let out shrill and biting howls, and when the brutality in their eyes reached a certain extent, they started to madly devour their companions, just like what they did before.
However, while some of the undying souls that woke up this time were the same souls that woke up last time, there were also different souls as well…
When the undying souls around Su Ming started eating each other, he stood there with his head lowered and repeated those series of actions. There were no undying souls that had woken up beside him, so he was safe for the moment. The others who were devouring their companions did not notice Su Ming. After the umpteenth time he pressed down and seized the air, a faint wave of ripples gradually appeared before him. The ripples were faint, but they truly existed.
Su Ming did not look at the ripples. He just continued watching his right hand and maintained that endless cycle of pressing down and seizing the air.
A long time passed by. After some of the undying souls died, roars signifying newly born lives spread through the sky and earth. This time, thirty-two strong undying souls appeared. As their roars reverberated in the air, all the other undying souls trembled and fear appeared on their faces, except…
Su Ming!
Su Ming still had his head lowered and kept repeating those series of actions without stopping or changing. The faint wave of ripples before him increased.
No one took any notice of Su Ming, including the strong undying souls. After roaring, they brought the thousands of souls and floated quickly towards the direction where the sound of the horn came from...
Along the way, more undying souls woke up. Usually, after a hint of intelligence emerged in their eyes, they would immediately choose to devour their companions by their side so that they would become stronger.
On the way, there was once when an undying soul beside Su Ming woke up. He growled and closed in on Su Ming in an instant, but Su Ming did not lift his head. He did not even spare that soul a glance, simply continuing with his action of pressing down and seizing the air...
Yet the instant the soul closed in, Su Ming pressed down, and the undying soul that was lunging at him shivered. Fear appeared beside the little spark of intelligence in his eyes, and before he could even get closer, he immediately started disintegrating, and as he broke down, Su Ming's right hand turned to seize the air.
Once he seized the air, white fog immediately appeared from the spots where the undying soul had started breaking down. That white fog charged towards Su Ming's right hand and turned into a weak ball of fog before it disappeared into his palm.
The undying soul immediately retreated in terror. His body had become much weaker, and as he moved back, another awakened undying soul immediately pounced on him. As shrill howls rang through the air, the soul was devoured.
Su Ming never lifted his head during that entire while, neither did he stop performing those series of actions. However, the ripples before him were growing in number, and gradually, the area around him started distorting faintly, and it was an incredibly distinct sight.
The distorted ripples caused the undying souls around him to instinctively back off. They did not dare to get closer to Su Ming. The undying souls who devoured their companions to get stronger looked towards Su Ming, and in their eyes were confusion… along with wariness.
They could sense a power that terrified them surrounding Su Ming, and they did not dare get closer to him.
Slowly, the swarm of undying souls moved once again. In the Undying and Imperishable World, besides the souls��� repeated cycles of life and death, everything else also seemed to have turned into a cycle and would repeat itself when the time came.
After the swarm of undying souls moved for several months… a swarm of undying souls of a similar number and who were also led by nearly a hundred of strong undying souls appeared before them on the white land.
It was the same as last time. When the two swarms of undying souls saw each other, they let out shrill howls at the same time and charged towards the other madly. Su Ming did not lift his head and simply continued pressing down and seizing at the air as he moved forward.
When the two swarms of undying souls ran into each other and started devouring each other madly with roars echoing in the air, both sides began a struggle for survival. Two undying souls instantly lunged towards Su Ming, but right at the moment they arrived by his side, their bodies disintegrated, turning into white fog that was absorbed into Su Ming's palm when he seized the air.
Su Ming's actions became faster and the number of ripples before him increased. The distortions became more and more distinct, and after a moment, all of the undying souls that closed in on him would let out shrill screams of pain and their bodies would break down to turn into white fog that was all absorbed into his palm.
Su Ming stood there and continued doing the same actions. Slowly, as he became faster in repeating this series of actions and as the ripples continued spreading outward, all the undying souls around him noticed the terror coming from Su Ming's spot, and the instant all of them stopped devouring each other and turned their gazes towards him…
...Su Ming's right hand suddenly froze, after never once having stopped for an unknown number of days.
Once he stopped, his right hand slowly pressed down! Immediately, rumbling sounds reverberated in the air, and with Su Ming as its center, a mighty force swept through the area. Then, all the thousands of souls in the area disintegrated right when that force touched them…
After pressing down, Su Ming slowly formed his hand into a fist and seized the air, and a large amount of white fog spun around him like a lake of fog before charging straight towards his right hand…
The area was silent. Su Ming stood in the midst of that large amount of fog, and his right hand absorbed that fog. He lifted his head slowly, and the gray hue in his eyes began fading away rapidly as his intelligence increased exponentially!
"I… am Su Ming…"
Chapter 470: Fall
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Su Ming mumbled and lowered his head to look at his right hand. His body had already completely gained physical form and he looked no different than a body that possessed flesh and blood.
A long black robe manifested on him, and his black hair danced in the wind, forming a contrast with the white fog around him, causing him to appear faint and indistinct in the white fog.
That white fog was rapidly seeping into Su Ming's body as he continued absorbing it.
Su Ming did not bother about that white fog. As his intelligence grew and his eyes began to gain a brilliant sparkle, he looked at his right hand, as if he was immersed in deep thought.
After a long while, when the final wisp of white fog seeped into his body, he stood alone at the empty land with his gaze still on his right hand.
Time trickled by. Several days later, Su Ming's right hand moved up slowly, then once he pressed downwards, he seized the air.
'What is this divine ability? It's just a simple motion of pressing down and seizing the air, but why does it contain such powerful might..? With one press, I can shatter everything in the world, and with one seize, I can absorb the essence of all the things that had crumbled..'
Su Ming closed his eyes, and when he opened them a moment later, he looked at the sky.
As he absorbed the white fog, his memories slowly recovered. Besides remembering his own name, he also remembered that he had died twice in this strange world.
He had died the first time by being devoured by someone, and he died the second time after his body disintegrated when the old man in white pressed down and seized the air…
However, he only managed to remember this much. The memories of how he arrived in this strange world still remained indistinct.
'Could it be that this action of pressing down and seizing the air contains some form of power that I don't understand..?'
Su Ming sat down cross-legged on the white ground. He looked at his right hand, and as he fell into pensive silence, he continued immersing himself in the repeated act of pressing down and seizing the air.
As time passed, white wisps of fog gradually seeped out of the ground around him. The souls that had died previously were revived, but almost the instant that white fog appeared, it immediately charged towards Su Ming, as if the spot where he was sitting had turned into a gigantic vortex, and that vortex could suck everything.
As the white fog surrounded Su Ming, it disappeared into his right hand in the blink of an eye and was absorbed into his body. The spark of intelligence in his eyes grew clearer, and an incredibly comfortable feeling spread through him, causing him to close his eyes.
It was the feeling of his body rapidly growing stronger, of his soul becoming more powerful. It was the comfortable sort of feeling that only appeared during metamorphosis, and once a person had a taste of it, it would be difficult for him to not continue with it.
After some time, Su Ming opened his eyes, and a brilliant sparkle shone in them.
"If I devour the other souls here, then I can slowly remember more things, I can also become stronger, and I won't have to feel the pain of dying here anymore…" Su Ming mumbled. He stood up, looked at the gray sky, took a deep breath, lifted his feet, and charged forward.
A chilling glare shone in his eyes. He charged forth like a wisp of black smoke and continued moving forward on the white land. He did not know how much time had passed, only that there was a desire in his heart - to devour more undying souls.
One day, he saw thousands of undying souls before him. When he saw them, the swarm of undying souls also saw him.
As shrill howls reverberated in the air, the dozens of obviously stronger souls leading the swarm charged towards him.
Su Ming stood there, a glint in his eyes. The instant those undying souls closed in on him, he lifted his right hand and pushed forward. With that one push, a layer of ripples manifested before him, and they spread outward like a wave. Rumbling sounds traveled forth without stop. The undying souls right at the front of the swarm shuddered viciously, and some of them broke down straight away.
Su Ming immediately had his right hand seize the air, and the disintegrating undying souls instantaneously turned into wisps of white fog that charged towards him. As the white fog fused into him, it made him lift his head and let out a contented roar. He charged forward and engaged the remaining undying souls that had yet to die.
Su Ming did not know of any other method. He only knew how to press down and seize the air. However, after trying it multiple times, he found that this simple act contained a powerful might that he did not comprehend. The instant he rushed into the swarm of undying souls, rumbling sounds repeatedly traveled forth.
After the time taken for the burning of an incense stick, Su Ming stood with his head dipped down. Dense white fog surrounded him, and besides the fog, not a single undying soul could be seen.
After a long time, Su Ming lifted his head. His eyes were no longer gray but were sparkling brightly. He licked his lips, then flew up from the ground, and when he was in midair, he started charging into the distance.
At the end of the world, in the distance, was the moaning sound of a horn echoing in the air. It was a guide for all the undying souls that could hear it to move towards that place.
That horn also managed to summon Su Ming. As he absorbed more undying souls, he began to feel the sound of the horn becoming clearer and stronger. It was filled with an enticing air, and it made him feel as if it was his mission to go to the place where the horn was as he continued to become stronger.
As he continued flying forward, he saw several swarms of undying souls on the ground, and whenever he ran into them, he would press down on the ground while remaining midair.
As his experiences increased and as he grew stronger by continuously absorbing more souls, the area in which he could cause the others to crumble gradually became bigger, until he could make half a swarm break down in a go instead of just a small part.
Su Ming did not keep track of time, he only thought that a long time had passed since he woke up. He had already flown very far away, and by then, large parts of the swarms of undying souls that formed on the ground would break down when he pressed downwards.
His body now seemed like a body possessing flesh and blood. His hair danced in the air, and his black robes fluttered while flowing in the wind. The amount of times when he did that action of pressing downward and seizing the air had become so numerous that they could no longer be counted!
He could feel his own strength clearly. This sort of strength was one with which he did not even need to roar as he flew, and he could already make all the undying souls that saw him shiver.
However… Su Ming's eyes were no longer sparkling brightly as time continued flowing away. They were gradually stained by fatigue, and a hint of apathy slowly appeared in his eyes as well.
His current appearance made him rather similar to the old man he'd seen before…
The horn still echoed in the air, but it seemed like he would never be able to fly to that place, and eventually, one day, as Su Ming continued flying forward, he suddenly came to an abrupt halt, turning his head around and looking at the world to his right. Over there, he saw a long red arc traveling forth incredibly quickly.
The instant Su Ming saw the long arc, it stopped several thousands of feet away from him before turning into a red-haired man. Half of the man's body was decked in armor. His red hair floated in the air and he was half naked. He looked at Su Ming.
His eyes were similar to Su Ming's. They were both dull, and there was apathy flowing out from within them.
Su Ming looked at him, and he looked at Su Ming. After a moment of looking into each other's eyes in midair, the man suddenly let out a roar and took a step forward to charge towards Su Ming. The moment he closed in, he lifted his right hand and swung it towards the sky. Immediately, a long spear manifested in his right hand and he wrapped his fingers around it.
Once he held that long spear, he threw it towards Su Ming. That long spear stirred up a piercing screech as it sliced through the air and charged towards Su Ming at an incredibly swift speed.
It was so fast that it looked as if a bolt of lightning had pierced through Su Ming's chest in an instant. However, to Su Ming, the instant that long spear was thrown out, everything in the world slowed down. Not only did the long spear's speed decelerate, even his body had become slower.
Everything had become slower. He saw the long spear flying towards him, bit by bit, inching towards him, little by little. His right hand was also lifting up slowly, but when the long spear finally arrived before him, he had only just lifted his right hand. He didn't manage to press down when the long spear stabbed into his chest at an incredibly slow speed. The intense pain of being ripped apart spread through Su Ming's chest incredibly slowly after being slowed down several times.
In his eyes, after the tip of the spear cut through his body and pierced through his chest, a sharp pain spread out, and at the same time, the entire spear penetrated through him and fell on the ground behind him.
Only then did Su Ming's world return to normal. Yet the instant the world returned to normal, a small part of his body had already broken down. As he fell apart, Su Ming lifted his right hand swiftly and pushed at the man.
The man jolted and his armor instantly exploded. At the same time his body was exposed, he began trembling violently, and cracks appeared on him
As Su Ming seized the air with his right hand, a large amount of white fog with an intensity so dense it could not be described with words charged towards him…
The man roared with a maddened craze and clenched his right fist before hurling it straight towards Su Ming. The speed of his punch was incredibly slow, but in Su Ming's eyes, that man's speed had reached an extreme momentum.
This was a difficult battle. Rumbling sounds reverberated in the world, and they only started gradually disappearing several hours later. An incredible amount of white fog filled the place, and the density of that white fog could almost compare to the amount of all the white fog Su Ming had absorbed on the way to this place.
The dense fog was rapidly disappearing at the moment, as it was being absorbed by the person inside. An hour later, when the fog became thinner, a person's silhouette gradually took shape.
He had long black hair, long black robes, a vacant face, and apathetic eyes… Su Ming walked out slowly and lowered his head to look at his right hand. The numb look in his eyes was identical to the old man's he met before!
"Undying soul… I am an Undying warrior soul…" Su Ming mumbled. His memories had yet to recover. It was as if no matter how much fog he absorbed, his memories stopped at the revelation of his own name.
The only thing that increased was his strength, and he felt as if he now had the might to control the entire world!
He… lost himself…
There seemed to be a voice echoing faintly in the gray world. That voice sounded as if it came from the distant past, as if it contained the passages of time itself, but if anyone listened to it closely, they would only hear the moaning sound of a horn, and would not be able to hear the voice formed by it.
"If you fall and lose yourself, then I will devour the snake and resurrect myself successfully. If you wake up, then I will willingly let myself be devoured by my kind, and will bless its new life!"
Chapter 471: Is it the Same?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
With an apathetic look in his eyes, Su Ming slowly flew into the sky. He did not look at the ground, and usually, wherever he went to, he would casually press down and seize the air if he ran into any undying souls, and they would all tremble before immediately breaking down into an endless amount of fog that chased after him.
At that moment, he was the same as the old man in white robes. There were no differences between them.
This process lasted for a very long time. A year, two years, three years… ten years, thirty years, fifty years… a hundred years… perhaps even longer.
Su Ming did not die anymore. He had only died twice. After dying twice and reviving subsequently, he continued moving forward to search for the moaning sound of the horn as he devoured an endless amount of white fog in this endless world.
His strength turned him even more apathetic. The vacant look on his face was gone, and he was no longer exhausted, only calm. However, that calmness did not mean that his heart was calm, it was simply an expression of his apathy.
He did not know just how many undying souls he had absorbed. He did not linger at any spot in that endless passage of time and only continued to move forward, continued devouring other souls. Su Ming had even devoured more than nine existences like that red-haired man.
Every single time he devoured an undying soul like this, Su Ming would become stronger. The act of pressing downwards and seizing the air had practically become a natural instinct by this point.
One day, right before Su Ming, he saw a gigantic mountain that towered into the clouds. There was a gigantic statue of a dragon snake sitting around that mountain. That dragon snake's head was right below the peak of the sky, and it looked as if it was overlooking the ground.
The moaning sounds of the horn traveled forth languidly from the mountain and from within the statue before spreading outwards to the entire area. The instant he saw the statue and the mountain, Su Ming sensed a powerful force within his apathetic heart summoning him.
"Undying warrior souls… come back…" An ancient voice echoed in Su Ming's mind. There was a hint of age and time in that voice, and when it fell into his heart, it made him lurch.
With an apathetic look in his eyes, he moved slowly forward, and when he was under the mountain, he leaped up before landing on the gigantic dragon snake's body.
There was something guiding him in his heart, calling out to him to choose a scale on the dragon snake's body and sit there to wait for the other Undying warrior souls to return…
Su Ming moved forward on the dragon snake's huge scales. When he looked forward, he found that the scales on the dragon snake's body were closely packed together and there were about hundreds upon thousands of them. Su Ming sat down on one of them and stared forward with a blank look on his face.
It was as if this was where he belonged. It was as if this was the end of his journey. The moaning sounds of the horn in the sky became clearer, and that sound gradually made him lethargic. His eyes gradually closed up, and an indescribable fatigue gradually submerged him like a flood.
But the instant he almost completely shut his eyes, he dipped his head down and saw through the corner of his eyes a string of words hastily carved down—obviously left behind by a finger—on a scale not too far away, right below him...
"I am Su Ming…"
These were the four words left behind on the scale…
The instant he saw those four words, the pupils within his apathetic eyes shrank. He was clearly taken aback, and the four words seemed to have been enlarged several times as they flashed in his head with loud, booming noises.
He stood up and stared fixedly at the string of letters. His breathing quickened and a huge storm raged in his heart. At the moment he saw those words, an incredibly familiar feeling shot up within him, as if… he was the one who had carved those four words on the scale!
The instant Su Ming's mind and soul were shaken, suddenly, that ancient voice that resounded in the air previously echoed between the sky and earth once again.
"Undying warrior souls… come back…"
When the voice reverberated in the air, an incredibly strong suction force immediately appeared on the scale under Su Ming's feet. He had no possible way of fighting against that suction force. It was as if the source of his incredible strength came from this statue, and if it could give him power, then it could also take it back whenever it wanted.
As that suction force erupted forth, Su Ming's body faded away in an instant. A large amount of white fog spread out madly from his body and was rapidly absorbed by the scale under his feet.
A sense of weakness filled Su Ming's entire mind and soul. His vision blurred, but the instant his vision faded and his body weakened, a thunderous roar resounded in his head, as if a bolt of lightning had just flashed past his head, causing him to remember everything right at that moment!
He remembered what this place was, remembered why he came here, remembered his own identity, remembered the small snake, remembered the Candle Dragon, and remembered everything that had happened.
He also remembered the Candle Dragon's Curse and its words.
"If you fall and become corrupted, then I will devour the snake and resurrect myself successfully. If you wake up, then I will willingly let myself be devoured by my kind, and will bless its new life!!"
"I will not fall and become corrupted, I won't! I'm not an Undying warrior soul, I am… Su Ming!"
Su Ming lifted his head and roared. His legs had already disappeared, and a large part of his body was rapidly turning invisible. The instant he was about to be completely absorbed into the dragon snake's scale, he lowered his head swiftly and used what remained of his right index finger along with all his remaining strength to write down a string of words on the scale!
"This is the Candle Dragon's Undying and Imperishable…" The string of words were written beneath "I am Su Ming", and were hastily scribbled down the instant Su Ming's body disappeared.
The instant he finished writing those words and had just spelled out half of the word for 'World', his right hand turned into fog, along with his entire body. At that moment, he had turned completely into white fog and was absorbed into the scale.
Su Ming died and vanished.
With his death, the peace in the mountain was restored. The statue of the dragon snake continued staying on the mountain like a dead object, still and unmoving.
However, if anyone walked on the hundreds of thousands of scales on its body and looked carefully, they would find that there were over one hundred thousand scales that were covered… in the same handwriting…
"I am Su Ming…"
"I am Su Ming…"
"I am Su Ming. This is the Candle Dragon…"
"Undying and Imperishable World…"
"I am Su Ming, I have to wake up, I cannot fall and lose myself…"
"I am Su Ming. The small snake is in danger, and only when I wake up can I save it…"
"I am Su Ming from the Berserker Tribe…"
"I am Su Ming. Sky and earth, ice and fire…"
"I am Su Ming. Don't devour the undying souls. Absolutely do not devour them…"
"If I devour even a single one of them, then I won't be able to…"
Words like these covered more than one hundred thousand scales, and most of them were just covered in four words - I am Su Ming. There were only some that had two lines of words, and if someone looked carefully at each of these scales, they would find that the time when the two lines were carved onto the scale was different, and it was the same for all the scales with two lines…
All of these were left behind by Su Ming! He did not just die twice; that was just what he retained in his memories at that moment. In truth, he had already arrived at this mountain and this statue numerous times…
Each time he came here, right at the final moment before his body turned into white fog and he was about to be absorbed by the scales, he would remember everything. He had no way to resist this, and could only use this clumsy and foolish method to tell his next incarnation what this place was, what his mission was, what he wanted to do, and that he absolutely could not fall and lose himself!
This was a really, really foolish method. It was also a sad and pitiful method. Yet similarly, Su Ming's tenacity and resolution could be seen from the words that covered more than one hundred thousand of the dragon snake's scales, along with his persistence… and madness!
This was the Candle Dragon's… Undying and Imperishable World!
There was no strong sunlight in this vast world. While there was always light filling the area for all eternity, it was neither bright nor dull. White wisps of fog floated out of the white ground and gradually turned into illusory figures.
There was one figure whose eyes were filled with a vacant gray shade when he opened his eyes. That figure was Su Ming…
Time passed by, and he followed the swarm of undying souls towards the sound of the horn. Gradually, after dying several times, he would become the strongest among all the undying souls.
With each step he took, he would continuously devour other souls to become stronger, a powerful warrior. He would obtain a great power, like mastering the skill of pressing downward and seizing the air, like making other objects speed up or slow down, like freezing an object in its place while having another move, or other battle abilities like this. He would use these skills to walk through the world and enjoy the comfortable feeling that came after devouring the undying souls and becoming stronger.
He also went through having his eyes fill with a gray color before that gray hue faded away and a spark returned to his eyes. He would remember his name, but eventually, he would become apathetic and calm, and then, he would once again arrive at the place where the sound of the horn called out to him.
He would come to a spot on the statue around the mountain, and the instant his body disappeared, he would remember everything, then he would leave behind a string of words for his next incarnation that would come to this place, a string of words that symbolized his unwillingness to give up and a spirit that would never give into despair…
Perhaps his next incarnation would not be able to see those words, because there were simply too many scales there…
Nonetheless, this was hope. This was his final hope, and the only way he could think of… He did not want to fall and lose himself. He wanted to fight back!
Time passed by, and as Su Ming died and was reborn, then arrived at the statue time and again before leaving behind his words, almost every single one of the hundreds of thousands of scales on the dragon snake's body had his words scribbled on them.
Most of them had two lines carved down, and there were some that had three lines of words carved down. Only a few of them had four lines, and less than thirty of them had five lines…
"I am Su Ming…"
"This is the dead Candle Dragon's Undying and Imperishable World…"
"The small snake is in danger, and only when I wake up can I save it…"
"Understand the concept behind sky and earth, and ice and fire, find the binary opposite that belongs to you. This is the only way to leave this place…"
"Don't devour the undying souls. Don't devour even a single one of them… Absolutely, do not devour even a single one of them…"
Chapter 472: Don't Devour
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Another month passed in the unknown space. Dressed in white, Su Ming calmly walked forth towards the spot where the sound of the horn came from and stood on a scale on the dragon snake's back. The instant he lowered his head, his body having returned to his spot on the dragon snake's body, that apathetic look on his face turned into one of disbelief…
For a countless number of times, Su Ming had dragged his exhausted body along with an apathetic look on his face to stand on the dragon snake's scale, and the instant he sat down, he would see the words on the scales. An expression of shocked horror would appear on his face, and he would lift his shivering right hand to carve down another string of words before his body disappeared...
Again, and again, and again…
The cycle repeated endlessly. Each time he woke up, he would walk right to his death, either dying in the hands of other undying souls or dying on the statue…
His only gain was that there were more and more words left on the dragon snake's scales. Each line of words signified one death, and this continued until all the scales were filled, until all the scales were covered with more than five lines…
Each time he died and woke up, his mind would be muddled. Not a single bit of his memories would be left behind, as if they had been completely wiped away to continue this endless cycle.
If he did not have those words, perhaps Su Ming would have truly lost himself… in this Undying and Imperishable World. He would not be able to wake up for all eternity, and would sink into this endless cycle of struggling, then roaring, and then eventually turning apathetic.
This was a cage. The bird would feel as if it had flown out, but the instant it died, it would realize abruptly that… it was still in that cage.
Only the instant he almost disappeared from the dragon snake's body would Su Ming remember everything. It was like a dream. When a person woke up from his dream, he would be confused, but the instant his confusion arrived, the dream would no longer be there…
With those words on the scales, Su Ming forced himself to never forget, even through his deaths, to not let his will scatter even if he died, to make himself… persevere. Even if the direction and the goal of his perseverance was indistinct, and even if he might not get a conclusion for everything that he did.
This continued for an unknown amount of times, until one time, when Su Ming stood on the dragon snake, he landed on a scale with five lines of words.
When he looked at the words left behind on the scale by his incarnations an unknown amount of years ago, he saw the words telling him not to devour the undying souls, and they made his heart tremble. The instant his body was about to disappear, he lifted his head and let out a roar filled with the unwillingness to admit defeat.
With that roar, before his right hand disappeared, he pressed down on the scale. This time, he did not leave behind any words but drew a runic symbol on the scale.
This was the framework for a Rune he had discovered, after he recovered his memories, among all the divine abilities Hong Luo had left for him. The use of that Rune was to produce vibrations and to increase the volume of a voice endlessly, turning that voice into an echo that would reverberate through the world.
By what he remembered from Hong Luo's legacy, if he activated this Rune in a vacant place, then he could let that echo last for a month. During that month, no matter how far someone was, they would still be able to hear it faintly.
However, this Rune was rather huge, and the line Su Ming carved was less than a hundredth of its completed form. It was far from enough for him to finish drawing the framework for the Rune.
However, Su Ming might have only managed to carve a hundredth of that Rune, but he had the next time, and as time passed by and as he came to this place repeatedly, he would wake up right before his death and remember everything, and then he would work to complete the framework for the Rune.
He did make certain errors because the spot where he sat did not fulfill the requirements for him to draw the Rune, but in the Undying and Imperishable Realm, in those endless cycles of life and death, eventually, Su Ming managed to draw the final line of the Rune on the dragon snake's body right before he woke up after his death!
The instant he finished drawing the Rune, Su Ming activated it, and with his strongest voice, he shouted his words.
"Don't devour any of the undying souls, do not devour even a single one of them…"
When he sent those words out and his body disappeared, the Rune he had finally managed to draw after an endless amount of tries on the dragon snake's body began operating, increasing the volume of his voice endlessly and sending it in all directions with a loud rumble. His words were like waves as they echoed in the boundless world.
Ten days after Su Ming's death, fog seeped out of a certain spot on the white ground in that vast and boundless world before it gathered together once again to turn into Su Ming's body.
His body gradually gained corporeal form, and with gray eyes, he looked at his surroundings with a vacant stare, and his mind was an empty slate, void of memories.
He looked at the gray sky and there was not a single thought in his head. It was just as if this was the first time he saw this sky, and he simply stared at it blankly. Fog rose around him slowly and gathered together to form some undying souls. Su Ming, who stood among the many undying souls, looked incredibly normal. There was nothing different about him.
Once the bodies of the new undying souls formed, they lifted their heads slowly and looked at the gray sky, as if they were waiting for something.
When the moaning sound of the horn traveled through the sky, it fell into Su Ming's ears. It caused his body to tremble, and he lowered his head like the other undying souls beside him before floating in the direction of where the sound of the horn came from.
Su Ming did not know that he had repeated this action an endless amount of times…
However, this time, before a day had even gone by, a furious roar reverberated violently between the sky and earth, alongside the moaning sound of the horn, in the boundless world.
"Don't devour any of the undying souls, do not devour even a single one of them…"
As that voice reverberated in the air, it fell into Su Ming's ears as well as the undying souls' ears. Su Ming froze for a moment in his movement to go forward. He lifted his head lightly and cast a glance at the sky, and after a moment of hesitation, he pretended that he did not hear it. The other undying souls also acted as if they did not hear the sound and continued floating forward.
Time passed by, and another round of some undying souls letting out low roars and pouncing on their companions next to them to eat them happened again.
This time, madness appeared Su Ming's gray eyes as well. He turned around swiftly and pounced on the absentminded undying soul beside him. Right at the instant he was about to devour his companion and make himself stronger, that furious roar that screamed with an unwillingness to give in and sounded as if it was let out before someone died resounded once again through the endless sky.
"Don't devour any of the undying souls, do not devour even a single one of them…"
That voice had reached them many times over the past few days, and had been gradually growing weaker. As it echoed in the air, it fell in Su Ming's mind, causing him to freeze in his actions just as he was about to eat his companion.
Struggle appeared in his gray eyes. There was originally not supposed to be anything in his blank mind, but those words were now echoing in his head. His grip around the undying soul slowly loosened.
He did not know why, but the voice coming through the sky was incredibly familiar…
As Su Ming let go of the undying soul, the strong souls around him had finished eating their companions, and after they became slightly stronger, they lifted their heads and roared towards the sky.
That roaring sound fell into Su Ming's ears and made him struggle once again. This time, his struggles lasted for a long time, and when he eventually stopped struggling, he looked around him, and found that there was no longer any undying souls by his side.
The undying souls that had been born with him had left in a group. Only Su Ming was left behind while struggling with himself. The other undying souls would not bother about his whereabouts, they would only listen to the calls from the horn and move nonstop towards their destination.
Su Ming stood alone in the vast land with a vacant look on his face. After a long while, he lowered his head and floated forward slowly.
The term probability is really just a coincidence and a change that happens in silence. Its appearance can usually not be controlled by man. It was just like possibilities. As an endless amount of ripples appears in the same manner and frequency, there is a possibility that a different type of ripple would appear…
It was the same in the Undying and Imperishable World. Su Ming had no idea how many times he had been reincarnated. In fact, the question did not even exist in his head.
Even if this was the umpteenth time he had woken up, to him, this was still the first time he woke up.
This time, his awakening was different. He could not notice it, but only the people who had been observing him over the hundreds of thousands of times he died and woke up again would see that he was different this time.
This time, due to the presence of that voice, Su Ming did not devour any other undying souls. He moved forward absentmindedly, and continued moving forward even when the voice was no longer around after half a month had gone by. He continued floating forward, and on the way, he did not run into other undying souls!
This was a first over the endless amount of years and endless amounts of awakenings he went through!
As he floated for half a month in his absentminded daze, the gray hue in Su Ming's eyes grew stronger. A feeling of hunger and weakness also blossomed from the depths of his heart. Occasionally, he would look around and search for the fountain that would stop his hunger and weakness.
He had encountered souls before, but every single time he saw them, that voice that had already disappeared in his head would echo weakly, making his struggles become stronger.
He longed to devour something, but that familiar voice stopped him from eating. In fact, as time passed by, he even grew to have a vague feeling that he… could not devour any undying souls.
When his struggles reached their peak, he saw a dozen something undying souls floating forward absentmindedly on the white land. Su Ming could no longer suppress the desire to eat, and he charged forward.
The dozen something undying souls were clearly newborn souls that had no shred of intelligence whatsoever in them. Su Ming closed in on one of them, and just as the soul was about to be eaten, an intense wave of struggle appeared on Su Ming's face. He roared, and his eyes were no longer gray.
A purplish red tint appeared, and in his struggles, he gave up on eating that soul. Instead, he lifted his right hand and rammed it against the undying soul's head, causing its body to break up.
The instant the undying soul died, a bang resounded suddenly in Su Ming's head, and a pain as if his mind was being ripped apart rushed through him. In the midst of that, clarity surfaced in Su Ming's pupils.
"I am Su Ming!"
Chapter 473: Imperishable Soul!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
This was the first time Su Ming reawakened his memories without eating any undying souls!
As his memories woke up, he learned of his name. He closed his eyes, and the undying souls around him slowly floated into the distance. They were still in an absentminded state, and they would not think of resisting that call.
As for the undying soul that Su Ming had scattered away, some white fog spread out from its body and surrounded Su Ming, as if it yearned to enter his body.
However, after a long while, when Su Ming opened his eyes, he saw the white fog and walked out of it quietly. He did not absorb a single bit of it. His other memories besides his name still remained muddled, but the desire to devour undying souls and kill them had diminished slightly.
Some shred of intelligence had appeared in his gray eyes. He floated forward slowly along the ground. Half a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
Su Ming went through numerous battles, but he no longer absorbed that white fog. Usually, as long as the undying souls did not travel in a big group, when he saw a swarm of them, he would rush over silently.
If he did not absorb the white fog, then he would not become stronger. That was why his job would be easier if he ran into the absent-minded ones who did not know how to fight back. If he ran into the undying souls that had become stronger after devouring their companions, it would be a lot more difficult for him to kill them.
However, as Su Ming continued with the massacre, while he did not get stronger, he did reawaken more memories, and he remembered some of his divine abilities…
He remembered the Wind Separation Slash, remembered the Lightning Berserker Art, remembered some of the legacy Hong Luo had left for him. With these methods, he decided in his silence to not fight against the undying souls that did not know how to resist any longer, but instead chose to search for the stronger souls and fight against them!
With each battle, Su Ming gradually learned of many of his shortcomings. He was not decisive enough when he attacked and wasted too much energy. He could not kill with just one strike. In fact, when he ran into danger, he would make mistakes in his choices.
The price for all of this was that his body had broken down several times, and he even died twice…
Perhaps it was because he did not eat any undying souls, but even after dying twice, he was still greatly different when he reawakened. His memories were no longer muddled and remained in the same state as before his death. Each time he died, he would think about the reason behind his failure, and then he would continue fighting against others.
He could clearly sense himself becoming stronger. This strength did not come from devouring undying souls, but was his personal grasp towards battle, his understanding towards his Arts, and his judgments based on his will.
He had already given up on a lot of useless fancy movements when he attacked. He became decisive and determined. Once he attacked, he would go straight for his target, and no laxness in his guard or easing up could be found in his movements.
Gradually, as he increased the number of kills under his belt, as he continued dying and reviving, as he concluded the reasons behind his failures and improved, he became faster when he killed his opponents. He started focusing his attention on the strong souls in big swarms of undying souls instead of the small groups.
By doing so, the number of strong souls he would have to face would increase exponentially. To him, the level of danger would also increase, but not only did these sorts of fights transform Su Ming's battle skills, they also helped him continuously reawaken his memories.
Not only did he remember his divine abilities, he also remembered his own name. In fact, he had even remembered that this… was the Candle Dragon's Undying and Imperishable World!
But that was not all, after dying several dozens of times and killing an unknown amount of undying souls, because he had given up on devouring the white fog, everything that had happened in his last incarnation returned to his memory!
He saw everything that had happened when he devoured undying souls in his last incarnation, right up to the moment when he went to the place the sound of the horn was coming from and died there.
His memories stopped there and he could no longer remember more. Even the memory of when he went to the dragon snake's body during the previous incarnation was fuzzy. He did not know why he did all those things and why he carved down those marks on the scales.
However, he had a feeling that if he continued this way, then someday, he would definitely remember everything. The killings continued. Su Ming wore a black robe and his hair moved without wind. He had changed the Wind Berserker's Art with his own method, and he did the same thing for the Lightning Berserker Art. This sort of change caused the lethality of the Arts to become even more precise.
Time passed by this way slowly. Ten years, fifty years, a hundred years…
Su Ming moved through a swarm of undying souls numbering to thousands. He did not stop for even a single moment. Wherever he went to, with a single tap from his right index finger, strong wind would start blowing out of nowhere. With a punch from his left hand, lightning would crackle, causing a large area to explode and disintegrate.
There were dozens of strong souls in a swarm near Su Ming. When he walked past them, their bodies fell apart and they turned into white fog, but Su Ming did not absorb them.
This sort of killings could no longer satisfy him and could not give him any more experience. This sort of fight could no longer let him experience danger.
Over the one hundred years of fighting, he had died nearly a hundred times as well. However, with each revival, Su Ming would think about the reason behind his death and rectify the cause, which allowed him to surpass himself.
His will had gone through an unimaginable ordeal over the one hundred years. As he continued fighting and as his memories were restored, he recalled more incarnations, along with everything that happened in those previous incarnations.
His expression gradually turned apathetic. However, while this apathy seemed the same as in his previous incarnations, in truth, it was completely different. This apathy was due to habit, due to indifference. The apathy that had appeared in his previous incarnations was based on ignorance.
One of them was due to habit, and the other lack of intelligence. These two types of apathy were like heaven and earth.
Fatigue had also come to Su Ming's body. This fatigue brought by the repeated murders, along with the feeling that he had to continue fighting to restore his memories made him feel haggard both in mind and soul.
However, this had to continue!
Another hundred years passed, and he remembered his previous ten thousand incarnations. The memories he regained allowed him to know all the areas in the vast land in the Undying and Imperishable World like the back of his palm.
He started focusing his attention on the Undying warrior souls that were like the red-haired man he met in the past. Only these sort of warrior souls could let him experience the danger of death when he fought against them.
'If the sky exists, then the ground will definitely exist as well…'
Su Ming attacked as he fought against a person shrouded in black fog in the sky. That person shrouded in black fog let out a low roar that shook the sky, and his attacks alternated between cold and heat. They were attacks born when ice and fire were stacked against each other.
'If fire exists, then ice will definitely exist as well…'
On a hillside on the great white land, Su Ming fought against an old man. That old man's head was covered in white and his eyes were filled with apathy, but when he pressed down and seized the air, Su Ming disintegrated multiple times and died...
However, each time he woke up, he would continue fighting!
'If pressure can cause something to fall apart, then a suction force that devours will definitely exist…'
Su Ming was fighting with everything he had against a man who stood thirty feet tall in midair. That man's fist contained the sensation of lightness and heaviness simultaneously, and it was difficult for people to endure his attacks. He roared furiously, and most of the time, two words could be heard in his roars!
"Imperishable soul!"
"The words Undying and Imperishable in the Candle Dragon's Undying and Imperishable World have the same concept…" Su Ming sat down cross-legged on one of the mountains on the white land as he mumbled while looking at the gray sky.
His memories had recovered to the time before the several hundreds of thousands of incarnations. Four hundred years had passed by. During those four hundred years, he did not absorb a single wisp of white fog. He just relied on himself, fighting, dying, and resurrecting again and again!
There were many people here that he still could not win against, just like the thirty feet tall man, as well as the old man who performed the act of pressing down and seizing the air. Su Ming had died multiple times because of them.
'Everything here has a binary opposite. Just like the act of pressing down and seizing air. When the old man presses down, he delivers power to destroy multiple things, and when he seizes the air, he absorbs that fog to nourish his own soul…
'Those fast and slow attacks, those light and heavy blows, and many more… all of them are different types of binary opposites.' Su Ming closed his eyes, and a pensive expression appeared on his apathetic face.
'The undying soul was me when I went through all those reincarnations. I continued absorbing the fog here to nourish my soul and become stronger, and the imperishable soul… would be the path I am taking right now. They are like two polar opposites!
'The word Undying means that the soul will never truly die and will be revived, but once the soul is revived, its memories will disappear and not a single one of them will remain… Imperishable would mean that my memories won't perish. I can retain my original memories even after waking up after all the multiple times I died!
'Perhaps the Candle Dragon's Undying and Imperishable World was prepared for the imperishable souls right from the start… But to become Imperishable would require great will. If you don't have that sort of will, it is incredibly difficult to persevere to the end…'
Su Ming lifted his right hand and pointed offhandedly at a spot behind him. A short person immediately crawled out from the air behind him. That person had an apathetic expression on his face, and he widened his mouth, ready to devour Su Ming, but Su Ming's finger had already arrived at the center of the person's brows.
The short person's body exploded with a bang and turned into white fog. With a sweep of an arm, the fog spread into the distance. This sort of thing was already like breathing to Su Ming, and he did not even hesitate in his movements.
'I have to search for a binary opposite that belongs solely to me. It's not the sky and earth, not ice and fire, not pressing down and seizing air, not lightness and heaviness, and neither is it swiftness and slowness…' Su Ming opened his eyes and looked at the gray sky. In his silence, he let his mind wander.
Time trickled by. A hundred years, two hundred, three hundred. Su Ming continued sitting there. There was a large amount of white fog around him, and that white fog came from all the undying souls he had killed in this place. The existence of that white fog was an incredibly enticing thing for many undying souls.
Usually, some would appear to absorb that white fog so that they would become stronger, but the instant they pounced on Su Ming, he would tap at the center of their brows, and they would explode and die with a bang.
After the past seven hundred years of fighting and thinking, that one tap came to be, and it was a killing move born of the culmination of all the divine abilities Su Ming had obtained through the Wind Berserker Arts, the Lightning Berserker Arts, the divine abilities he could use as a Nascent Soul Cultivator, and all the memories of all the things he went through over the numerous incarnations in this place!
This killing move was very simple. Only a tap was required. However, that one tap contained the speed of lightning, the power of wind, the mysteriousness within the movement of pressing down and seizing air, the source behind lightness and heaviness, the laws behind swiftness and slowness, and Su Ming's life and soul!
One day, in the endless cycles of incarnations, the memory of the very first time Su Ming had appeared in this world returned… He remembered why he came here, remembered the small snake, remembered the old man in black robes, and remembered the words that made his heart tremble when he was fighting against the Candle Dragon.
'The fusion between the sky and earth, the fusion between ice and fire… Fusion…'
For the first time in the hundreds of years Su Ming sat there, he opened his eyes, and a brilliant light could be seen within them.
"I understand now…"